A sudden summer thunderstorm ripped across Brooklyn on Friday night, with wind gusts powerful enough to snap mature street trees and send one massive trunk crashing down onto a line of parked cars. In a matter of minutes, a quiet evening turned into a cleanup scene, as branches and splintered limbs carpeted residential blocks and neighbors stepped outside to find shattered windshields and dented roofs. From Brooklyn Heights to Park Slope, streets were strewn with debris while Sanitation and Parks crews moved in to tackle the biggest tangles.
Video Captures Tree Crushing Cars
A brief clip shows the exact moment a tree gives way and slams onto parked vehicles as fierce winds tear down the block, flinging wood and leaves across the roadway, according to Fox News. The video is only a few seconds long, but it clearly illustrates how a fast-moving downdraft can turn a calm residential street into a danger zone with almost no warning.
Brooklyn Neighborhoods Took The Brunt
Local coverage described residents talking about a “mini-tornado,” with large trunks and heavy limbs coming down across Brooklyn Heights, Park Slope, Flatbush and Bay Ridge, with significant breaks noted on blocks near Pierrepont and Remsen, according to Brooklyn Eagle. Photos and eyewitness accounts collected by the outlet show work crews feeding massive branches into wood chippers and loading trucks as they tried to clear the worst of the storm damage the following morning.
Crews, Calls and Where to Report Damage
The New York City Parks Department has been juggling hundreds of storm-related calls; News 12 reports that parks officials received more than 2,000 service requests from Friday’s storm and recorded more than 1,000 outages tied to follow-up storms. Residents are urged to report fallen or hazardous trees through 311 or the city’s NYC Tree Map, a tool the Parks Department uses to help prioritize which locations need attention first…